Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe

This is one of the best books I've ever read describing the history of astronomy as it pertains to the development and eventual acceptance of the Big Bang Theory.

Although the first several pages seemed awkward in that the author spent time describing Chinese, Icelandic, and African mythology as it relates to the universe the theme turns quickly to focusing on what science is and early scientific achievements relating to astronomy.

One thing that stands out about this book which I found fascinating was that the author often gives details about the personalities of the people who made the important discoveries along the way and what the people who held competing theories thought of each other.

Chapter 1 covers among other things: Early astronomical achievements such as determining the size of the earth, distance to the sun, development of the Copernican world view, Keplarian planetary orbits, and the work of Galileo.

Chapter 2 beautifully describes and contrasts early theories of the universe, and the story of how Galilean Relativity gave way to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity along with Newton's theory of gravity being replaced with Einstein's theory of gravity and its verification. The chapter concludes with Einstein's view of a static, eternal universe with Friedmann and Lemaitre's hypothesis of a universe that expands and had a beginning.

Chapter 3 deals with how it was determined the universe contained island galaxies great distances apart instead of just one galaxy containing everything and also how Hubble showed a relationship between a galaxy's distance and recessional velocity.

Chapter 4 shows how theory and observations came together to form the Big Bang model. Details on how Einstein came to favor the Big Bang model rather than a static universe are given. The work of cosmologists George Gamow favoring the Big Bang and Fred Hoyle favoring the Steady State model are presented.

Chapter 5 shows why Gamow's Big Bang Theory came to be accepted rather than Hoyle's Steady State Theory. The history of how the overwhelming evidence from Radio Astronomy's discovery of the Cosmic Background Radiation is beautifully presented and how many other observations now support the Big Bang.

A short Epilogue is also given exploring the philosophical and religious implications of the Big Bang. Although the book's beginning downplayed belief in a Deity the author admits (p 492) that the scientific community has not yet "properly addressed the ultimate question of where the universe came from" and that the answer might indeed be outside the realm of science.

This book was recommended reading for my Introduction to Cosmology class - it may as well have been about anti-gravity, because once I picked this book up, I just couldn't put it down! Literally read through the whole thing in one shot. Singh does an amazing job of telling over the history of the universe though the progression of scientific discovery, and truly makes it a fun read. Whether you're specifically interested in cosmology, or just want to read some good writing and learn something while you're at it, I highly recommend this book. It even has re-read potential, if you're into that sort of thing. Two thumbs up!

This book is not only about the physics behind or under the Big Bang theory but mainly about its ascension from the lower plains of initial and tenuous discussions up to the pinnacle of science. This is basic to understand what are you going to read before deciding to buy the book.

First of all you need to know that Simon Singh also wrote "Fermat's enigma," which is as good and well written as this one. I read both and it is hard for me to say which one is better, but what I did know is that both books are mandatory readings for anyone interested in science and how it explains everything we know for certain.

In this vein, Big Bang is the history of a competition between ideas that followed the Einstein's theory of gravity, ideas brought with the equations or that were implicit in them. What Alexander Friedman, Georges Lemaître and others did, was to make them explicit, to show their implications in terms of an (in some sense unexpected) origin to the universe.

Einstein wasn't convinced from the very beginning and in so doing and furthermore being the prevailing idea of a static universe so strongly rooted in the zeitgeist of the times (1920s), the war was declared among contradictory positions.

Subsequent observations and a vast amount of measurements and discussion made that Big Bang theory began to gain adherents and supporters. This is what Simon Singh tells us in a very funny and highly explanatory style: in fact, every time we need a drawing he puts it, and when (or if) we need a metaphor he gives us a very good one.

He is not a journalist but a physicist who knows how to explain very difficult things. In fact, I gave the book to my wife promising her that she would understand everything about the Big Bang theory. At first she didn't believe me (she is a psychologist so she shouldn't) but after reading the book she gave me five stars for the recommendation, the same stars I give to the work of Mr. Singh.

Highly recommended.

The book arrived on time and in good condition. It is very long (500+ pages) and covers a great deal of history, theology/mythology, philosophy and cosmology. And if there is one author who can tell the story correctly, it's Simon.

History is occupied by many good and bad ideas. But of course, people had their reasons for believing what they did. Simon reveals the good and bad ideas, and he shows us how common sense thinking is, in many cases, conducive to the wrong answer. There is some math and several thought experiments. This is nothing to fear. The math really helps bring clarity to the situation, especially when discussing time dilation (a concept I've had trouble wrapping my head around).

Overall a great book. The author's ability for teaching is next to none. A much more insightful book than Hawking's a Brief History of Time and Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. I don't mean that in a critical way. Those books were great and neither of them were meant to be as detailed as this one. But for those of you who read those or were thinking about reading those, I would consider this instead. It's approximately the length of both of those books combined, and it encompasses all of what those books talk about and more. Five stars.

This book is so well written. It reads like a story. I have a pretty strong science background, and what is cool about this book is that it takes all of the math and science you learn in high school and college and gives it real life applications. It goes back in history and shows how we arrived where we are today in terms of math and physics. Since I am a Christian, my presuppositions are different. The author here holds a presupposition that there is no God, and therefore no creator, so he is seeking an explanation for the existence of the universe. Mine , of course, is that God created everything in the beginning - including the forces that we try to understand in our world. So, the story of men trying to understand and define the nature of the world, from the "Earth Center of The Universe" theory, to gravity, to time/space relativity is marvelously told in this book. Whether you have faith in the presuppositions of evolution or creation, either way, this book is a great source of insight into our world.

I found myself disapointed with this book by the time I got to the end. It might be because I know a little about the subject, so my expectations for the book were judging it unfairly. But I think the book did set up for what should be a good discussion of an important theory, but then failed to come through with the details.

The book turns out to be a walk through the park of science history in the development of the big bang theory, and reports to leave you off once the theory is finally accepted, once it compares well with observations. This is all well and good, but it leaves out most of the important facts in the recent history, and some glaring holes in what people would call the big bang theory today. The simple facts of the big bang theory are stated in the book, it doesn't go on to state that for most scientists there was a long standing belief that big bang theory doesn't hold up as stated, and that something needs to be added. There have been additions to the simple big bang which have been more than important, but necessary to make the big bang acceptable. And more important and related to the tone of the book, there is now observations which make the additions to the theory hold up, and finally currently accepted.

The book came at a time soon after the WMAP data, and I was hoping the book would build forward to get to a good discription of how the WMAP data (and other recent data) finally make the big theory interesting, complex and hold up to observation. But this is completely missing. The most important part that is missing is how the inflationary universe actually now looks to be true. I had been following this for many years, and found that many theorists already firmly held the belief in the inflationary universe, but it was hard to believe until there was some sort of data to back it up, and there now is. Adding this in, and with the intesting tone of the book would be a great help, and useful. But without it the book feels like it is missing a large part of the story.

I was complaining to my wife about this, and she had no idea what I was talking about, which probably at this point neither do you. Which is why I think the world is still waiting for the great book, writen for a popular audience, about the big bang. She suggested that maybe I should write it. Not sure about that, but it is clear after reading this book, someone should, there is a great subject out there, still waiting for a great book, because this one missed it.

I an sure that Simon Singh must know this, and perhaps he found that he couldn't include everything in discussions with his editor. Maybe this book should be called "The big bang, vol.1 - getting to a theory", and now he sould go on to write, "The big bang, vol.2 - the whole story".

Writing for laypersons can't be easy: no formulas, simple diagrams, not too much math. Singh carries it off beautifully.

In addition, Singh is literate, compelling, historically accurate, and he knows or knew many of the figures in the 20th Century's most interesting theoretical and practical major question.

Other writers say the book was "disappointing" and "dated." True, 1993 was the publishing date. This book, however, is not out-of-date. As for being "disappointing," one can only wonder what the reviewer was expecting in a book for laypersons.

If you can read this review, you can understand this book. Go for it. This should be required reading in high school and college.

I doubt that I am alone in believing the reason so many U.S. public school graduates grow up hating math and science is due to the fact that the topics are typically presented as dauntingly difficult, impenetrably arcane and mind-numbingly boring. Enter Simon Singh who does what few writers are able to do in informing the math and science illiterate --i.e., make the subject matter both accessable and interesting. Had I been exposed at a younger age to the science history and theory Singh provides the reader in the Big Bang (as well as in his two other books, Fermat's Enigma and The Code Book), I am certain I would have been far less intimidated, much more inquisitive and, inevitably, better informed about the wonder and magnificence of the world and universe in which we are privileged to live. Thanks to Simon Singh, I look to the heavens with a new sense of fascination, understanding and wonder.

Everything that can be said about this book has been written in other reviews here, so I won't go into detail. However...

I specifically came to Amazon to review this book because it was just that great. The title is deceiving in that it is about MUCH MORE than just the Big Bang. It is as if the entire Bible were titled "The Story of Joshua."

The book gives a fascinating look at the history of science, and religion's views on science, from prehistory to the modern Big Bang theory. How did mythology evolve into scientific reasoning? How did the ancients view the heavens and explain their observations? How can we tell how far away other stars and Galaxies are? How do we know the universe is expanding? And what are the implications of an expanding universe? Will it expand forever or collapse back in on itself? And why do we care? How did geniuses like Galileo make their discoveries, and why were they persecuted by the Church?

Besides exploring these and many other questions, Singh gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the physicists who made the greatest discoveries in cosmology, how they came to their conclusions, and the rivalry between competing views and personalities in the world of astronomy and cosmology.

And... Singh explains how the ancients correctly calculated the diameter of the earth, and the distances to the sun and moon, and does so in a way that almost anyone can understand. Even me - I didn't have a clue how they did that before reading this book. How would YOU measure the distance from the earth to the sun? This book will tell you how.

Singh, in this book and his other writings, takes his place with Asimov and Sagan among the great science writers who seemingly so easily make the most complex aspects of science accessible to the casual reader. I can't recommend this book enough.

I read this years ago and wanted my newly-wed husband to read it. We LOVED it. At 67 and 75 we were fascinated. BTW, I robbed the cradle!